She didn’t bother changing back into her clothes. She could hardly stand her stilettos when she wasn’t in pain, much less now, and just the thought of putting her dress back on and taking his scent off her skin had her growling. She’d just go with what she had on.
She found a notepad and scribbled her address on it as best she could with her shaking hands, then headed out the door.
By the time she reached her house, the cuts and scrapes at the bottoms of her feet left a trail of blood for anyone to follow, but she didn’t care. The pain was nothing compared to the fiery inferno inside her chest. Breathing was more than difficult. It was near impossible. She panted as she walked but kept putting one foot in front of the other.
She stopped long enough to pull a well-worn pair of sneakers onto her bare feet before heading out again. She didn’t know where she was going, only that she had to keep moving. Only when it became apparent that she was making her way to the mountain, did she allow her fear to take root. “Please, hold off for a few more hours. He’ll come for me—for us—I know he will,” she begged the dragon. “He will not let us down. He promised.”
Her pleading went unanswered. She fought the compulsion to keep moving forward, but her body wouldn’t listen, the dragon’s will overshadowing her own. Tears streamed down her cheeks. The dragon was searching for a den. She wouldn’t want to live with humans or be a part of their world any longer. She would do her best to keep Stella safe and well fed, but in the end, the loneliness of a solitary existence would do them both in.
Stella ignored the sun climbing overhead. She’d been walking for hours, but she didn’t care. The higher into the mountain she climbed, the fewer landmarks she recognized. Even if she managed to stave off the shift this time around, there was no way she’d be able to find her way back to Glen Farley before the next wave hit.
By the time she finally stopped moving, the sun had crossed the sky and every muscle in her body ached. She took a deep breath and looked around. A wide yawning hole in the rock face about twenty feet above her head drew her attention. So, that was to be where she lived from now on. Without a mate to protect her, the cave made sense. As a dragon, it would be easy to get to, yet hard for the enemy to penetrate. When the dragon pushed her forward again, she didn’t even bother trying to stop it. If she slipped and fell, at least she wouldn’t have to live in the damned cave for the rest of her life.
When she finally made it up to the entrance, Stella didn’t dare stop. If she did, even for a second, she wouldn’t make it into the cave and relative protection from the elements, and as exhausted as she was, who knew how long she’d be there? With her hands scraped raw, she felt her way into the dark cavern, hoping that no animal had made a home there before her.
She had only taken a few steps, and several breaths of the dank, musty air when her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The reddish tinge in her sight made her more aware of the dragon’s presence than ever.
As far as caves went, she had to admit, it wasn’t bad. There were plenty of flat surfaces for her to lie on, and it was big enough that even shifted, she would be able to move around. She didn’t bother looking in all the little nooks and dips in the walls. Even if there were other creatures in residence, she didn’t have the energy to fight them off or chase them away.
She found an area where the rock floor was smooth and somewhat hidden from the entrance before collapsing. Sighing, she closed her eyes. There was no point in crying over what could have been, but still the tears fell. She pulled Brycen’s T-shirt to her nose and breathed in his scent, willing him to appear, yet knowing he wouldn’t.
Chapter 9
Fire raced through him as Brycen fought to breathe through the pain. The impact had been hard. He’d broken a few bones, but those were already mending. What he needed to do—and couldn’t—was move. He had to get away from the hunters closing in on him. The poison-tipped arrows they used rendered dragons useless while still keeping their minds alert. But only for a short while. Given the chance, they would quarter him alive, and there was nothing he’d be able to do about it. He could only hope he’d flown fast and far enough to keep them from reaching him before he could defend himself again.
Once the paralysis receded, the hallucinations would begin. He’d no longer be able to tell friend from foe. Dragons—men of honor—had been killed to keep the rest of the clan safe from the ensuing rage after an attack. And the way his dragon had surged in defense of Stella when the bastards had threatened to kill her, he knew the fury inside him would explode.